All Entries Tagged With: "Barker"
The Good,The Bad…Who Stays and Who Goes
The Blackhawks went into the Olympic break riding a four game win streak. They have reached 40 wins quicker than other team in franchise history. That’s the good news.
As far as the winning the last stretch of games; it was an unimpressive four game win streak. The Hawks played some of their worse hockey of [...]
A Good Trade For All
Chicago and Minnesota executed a trade yesterday whereby everyone has gotten what they needed.
As is almost always the case the Wild were not mentioned as trade partners with the Blackhawks until the transaction was about to be announced. According to Hawks general manager Stan Bowman, the deal had been in the works for a few [...]
Cam Barker Traded
Per TSN’s Bob McKenzie…
Cam Barker heads to Minnesota for UFA defenseman Kim Johnsson, and former 2009 first round pick defenseman Nick Leddy
The Hawks will save slightly over $3 million on Barker’s 2010-2011 salary cap hit. Stan Bowman can comfortably replace Barker with Johnsson and has acquired a good prospect in Leddy for the future.
Fearless
Many teams would have folded their tent and called it a night after relinquishing a three goal lead to the San Jose Sharks. Most likely that would be the so if the club surrendering the three goal advantage was playing their seventh contest of an eight game road trip.
But most NHL teams are not like [...]
Mission Accomplished, So Far…
It might be too soon to say the student has become the teacher but the Blackhawks have now come away with three straight wins over the Red Wings.
This time Detroit had more big guns back in the lineup and probably deserved a better fate. Both teams were playing their third game in four nights and [...]
Huet Sparkles, Keith Shines… Hawks Win
The Blackhawks came out of the gate strongly against the Columbus Blue Jackets. They were determined and appeared to be the hungrier club. The result was an end to a two game losing streak and renewed hope their number one goalie is not gong to falter.
Although the Hawks dominated the Jackets early they couldn’t solve [...]
A Time to Pause and Reflect
The Blackhawks had another United Center slow start and then battled through the final 40 minutes but still couldn’t solve goal keeper Jonas Hiller. He was very sharp and the Ducks were able to turtle it out for the final two periods and hold their advantage. The Hawks outshot the Ducks 43-12 and if not [...]
WWW, The Blues And A Sobering Realization
There was a reference yesterday by Greg Wyshynski (aka Puck Daddy) of an Adrian Dater article from the Denver Post. The theme of Dater’s piece was the slipping attendance in Colorado and around the NHL could have something to do with the advent of HDTV. His premise is why spend a lot of dough to [...]
Antti No Goal
Entering Sunday night’s contest the Blackhawks needed to convert some rebound opportunities and score a few goals.
Fortunately Antero Niittymaki supplied rebound chances and his teammates couldn’t solve Antti Niemi. The result was a lopsided 4-0 Hawk victory.
The battle of Finnish goal keepers wasn’t really much of a contest. Niemi was outstanding while Niittymaki wasn’t close to [...]
Winning Without All The Pieces
Before this season began my thinking was Dave Bolland was going to be a key player for the Blackhawks. It seems many have discounted his loss but it does matter. Bolland’s absence is felt even if it is not always apparent by looking at the scoreboard.
The understated Bolland does everything well without a lot of [...]
Kane, Keith and Toews to Sign on Thursday…And Two Possible Scenarios
The Chicago Blackhawks are holding a 2:00 PM press conference on Thursday at the United Center to announce the contract extensions for Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, and Jonathan Toews.
It has been reported in the Chicago Tribune that Kane and Toews will sign identical five year contract extensions. Their deals will be worth $31.5 million dollars, [...]
Hawks Shouldn’t Force A Trade
It was my opinion this summer the Blackhawks should have been aggressive in trading players to open up salary cap space for the coming season. There could have been a benefit for this year and next when the cap crunch will really hit.
It was an unsettling summer for the Blackhawks front office. There was the [...]
It’s Not Cute To Be A Loser Anymore
Maybe their fans will take offense but the Maple Leafs could be the NHL’s version of the Chicago Cubs. The Leafs have been far more successful in winning championships as they have captured 13 Stanley Cups since 1917. The Cubs haven’t won a World Series in over 100 years, so there are differences. But the [...]
Hawks Extend Vacation
There is a common thread which runs through every team mired in a losing slump…they don’t score goals. The Hawks were fortunate their power play woes and lack of scoring hasn’t led to more losses. Usually these things have a way of balancing out and unless the Hawks start filling the net it will be [...]
Rocky Knows How to Re-Sign the “Big Three”
The Hawks beat the Oilers 4-3 for their third straight win in front of 20,124 at the United Center. It was announced last night’s attendance was the 55th consecutive capacity crowd. I am not sure if “capacity crowd” was the correct verbiage, but indeed it was the 55th straight sellout which is very impressive.
The Blackhawk [...]
A Shootout Win or Shootout Luck
Opening night for the Blackhawks at the United Center on Saturday was a fun filled experience for fans. It started with the players arriving by limousine and walking up West Madison on a red carpet. The Hawks legends’ made an appearance skating onto the ice in uniform. The evening ended with the Hawks winning the [...]
Bandwagon Seats Available….. And Answers
Collectively the Blackhawks are a very good hockey team. Individually they are not a group of battle tested veteran, all star caliber players…..yet. Now that they are 0-3 for the preseason there are some who may consider giving up their seats on the Hawks bandwagon. Three preseason losses in a row doesn’t mean very much, but if you [...]
Questions Which Need Your Answers
I enjoy writing my opinions about the Blackhawks. With that privilege comes responsibility and some risk. Although my mind can change, consistency is something I strive to maintain. My thoughts are always available for someone to go back and review. So if my reasoning constantly changes, what I write has less merit in my opinion.
Here is a [...]
